Baked Shredded Chicken Taquitos

May 3, 2016

Crispy oven baked Shredded Chicken Taquitos – juicy Mexican shredded chicken made in the slow cooker, then wrapped in corn tortillas, sprayed with olive oil, and baked in the oven. Served with guacamole. Great for an appetizer or dinner, and much healthier than fried!

I love reading. I have a very strict “no phone before bed” rule. Reading is much better. I was so sleep deprived during those hazy newborn days, I barely read at all. But now that Josh is a little older (5 months!) and is such a good sleeper, I’m back to reading myself to sleep.

I do all my reading on my Kindle. I just started doing the neatest thing.

You know how in the bottom corner, you can have it display percentage of the book you have read? I would always get so distracted by that percentage. As it started creeping closer and closer to 100%, I would start to get sad that this book I was enjoying was coming to an end.

Not anymore! I turned it off so it is completely blank, and now I have no idea where I am in the book. It’s so much better! Now I can just enjoy it thoroughly.

I’m surprised how much I prefer it.

I’m also surprised by how much I prefer these taquitos baked instead of fried. I’ll never go back to frying them again!

Baking them is so much easier than frying them. Before I’d have to heat up the oil, my whole house would STINK of fried food, clean up the oil and all the splatter, drain them on paper towels. Ugh. So much work.

Now, I just roll them up, spray them with olive oil, and bake them in the oven for 15-20 minutes. They come out crispy, crunchy and golden brown. Easier clean up, and much healthier too.

I like my taquitos filled with Mexican shredded chicken that I make in the slow cooker. The same shredded chicken I use in my shredded chicken tacos. It really is the best Mexican shredded chicken. Juicy, tender and full of flavor.

And it couldn’t be easier to make. You just dump chicken, 1 can of tomatoes, chicken broth, cumin and salt in the slow cooker and let it cook for the day. That’s it.

Great time saving kitchen hack! If you use frozen chicken breasts like I do, you can put the chicken breasts in the crockpot while they’re still frozen, no need to defrost them. A great time saver.

I always use Hunt’s diced tomatoes when I make my Mexican shredded chicken. Hunt’s really does have the best canned tomatoes, even America’s Test Kitchen says so. It gives great flavor to these taquitos.

I like my taquitos really simply, just chicken and the corn tortillas. If you eat cheese, these would also be great with a little shredded jack or cheddar cheese too.

The best part of these baked shredded chicken taquitos is dipping them in guacamole.

Instructions

Shredded Chicken

Combine all the ingredients in your slow cooker. No need to defrost your chicken breasts, throw them in frozen! Cook over low heat for 6-8 hours, or high heat for 4-6 hours.

After your chicken is done cooking, shred it with 2 forks in your slow cooker. Mix the shredded chicken with the juices.

Taquitos

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees with the oven rack in the middle. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Put your tortillas on the baking sheet, overlapping them is fine, and put them in the oven for a few minutes until they are soft. If you don’t soften the tortillas, they break when you roll the taquitos.

Get 1.5 tablespoons of the shredded chicken per taquito. Squeeze any excess moisture from the chicken before putting it on the taquito. You want the chicken juicy, but not dripping wet, otherwise the taquitos will be soggy on the bottom.

Spoon the 1.5 tablespoons of the shredded chicken down the center of the tortilla, then roll it up. Put the taquitos seam side DOWN on the baking sheet. Repeat with all the tortillas.

Spray the top of the taquitos with olive oil spray. Then sprinkle with salt.

Bake the taquitos for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes before serving.

Guacamole

While the taquitos are baking, make the guacamole. Combine all the ingredients in a medium size bowl, and mash with a potato masher until combined and chunky. Taste for salt and lime juice, add more if needed.

Serving

Serve the taquitos warm with guacamole.

Freezing

These taquitos freeze beautifully! I always double this recipe when I am making it. I serve half that night, and freeze the rest for another night.

Freeze the rolled taquitos on a baking sheet BEFORE spraying them with olive oil spray and baking them.

When they are frozen, put them in a freezer safe bag.

When ready to bake, put on a baking sheet, spray with olive oil spray, and bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

I made these tonight and they’re delicious! The only problem I had was the corn tortillas breaking apart while I was rolling them even after I warmed them up. Guacamole was yummy as well. Thanks for the recipe! :)